I am quite sad to announce that my coneflowers are….done for. They'd been really glorious the past few years and I had bought a few new cultivars, aiming for a whole bed of them. Last year I noticed one of them had deformed flowers that stayed all green. I, with my inherent talent for denial, just ignored it. This year, after we ventured back outside with some cooler weather, I found one plant completely dead, and several others with the weird green buds and flowers. A bit of googling led me to the diagnosis of Aster Yellows. Such a nice name for a rotten thing. Yesterday I noticed that my huge coneflower in front, that had mystified me by having both purple and white blooms on the same plant, is also succumbing. Word is that there's not a damn thing you can do….just pull them out and don't even compost them.
Damn it.
On a brighter note, it is glorious to have the windows open. The cats are incredibly happy.
Last night's dinner. When I don't have anything planned I kinda just throw it together. Spinach, arugula, mixed greens, strawberries, purple cabbage, avocado, flax seeds, and some grass-fed ground beef cooked with fennel and cumin seed.
And, last but not least. A house from a trip to Ohio a few months back.
Re. the aster yellows: my garden has suffered this as well. I had several colors of coneflowers that I had to pull, and I’ve had to be careful with choosing new plants. I wanted daisies – nope, same family, potential for same problem. Etc. Now I do have a pink coneflower in another spot, not too far from the initial problem area, that I let grow this spring and it seems to be doing fine. Go figure. IIRC, this is spread by the leafhopper insect, so maybe I don’t have that issue this year. But I feel your pain. It’s so frustrating to deal with. Sorry for your coneflowers.